Back to School

Reading opens up entire new worlds to you, transports you to new places, and lets you live vicariously through someone else. Want to slay a dragon? Track down a thief? Visit the moon? Learn about the discovery of radium?...

Today I was taunted by a box of tissues. Not even Kleenex, mind you,  but generic Target up & up™ brand tissues. The tissues sit in a bin in our utility room next to a disgustingly dirty backpack and mock me by...

I used to spend the month of May dreading the upcoming summer "holidays". I treated summer as if I was going into battle...entering survival mode, but this year I am making a plan for Camp SAHM and am hoping to...

I was intrigued by the title.  “Quit Doing These 8 Things for Your Teen This Year if You Want to Raise an Adult.” So I clicked and read the list of ways to make your teen more responsible, autonomous, and ready...

As my 8th grade daughter and I hastily made our way from one school night activity to another, she announces from the passenger seat that her boyfriend just broke up with her. In a text. So I did what any...

You've heard of the 7 year itch in marriage? Well, there's a 7 year twitch in parenting. Ages 11 - 18. I'm halfway through death valley, seasoned in dodging the eye roll but still learning the slang and technology....

Growing up I had a close friend who swam competitively. She and her four brothers all swam on the same team. At the time, I felt sorry for her because she wasn’t allowed to choose her own sport or activity. Now as an...

I caved to the pressure last Christmas and convinced my husband that it was time to get our twelve year old daughters smartphones. They were two of the few sixth graders at their school without phones. Before sixth grade they were...

When I was in elementary school I remember sitting through PTA meetings with my mom. I actually remember thinking that I couldn't wait to be a mom and be on the PTA. It just seemed so COOL.  That was in...

This year our daughters transferred from a small K-8 school to a large public middle school. To put the change in perspective, their current 7th grade class is about the same size as their entire old school. While the transition...

I recently attended a baby shower and found myself fascinated by some of the gifts - new baby products that did not exist when my almost thirteen year old twins were babies. I thought of my own mother, who passed...

It’s been less than 10 years since iPhone changed our country, our culture, our world. Gone are the days of pay phones and Facebook via the desktop. As a member of the generation with my childhood riding in cars without movie entertainment and my...

We all start the school year off with amazing intentions. This will be the year where we send our kid to school with the "Pinterest Perfect" lunch and somehow we always end up at "crumbs in a baggie" by...

Disclaimer: You'll notice that I'm about to brag on Paper Goat Post. All of the info about this fabulous stationary shop are my own. I wasn't paid to brag on them! When you hear the words, "back-to-school," they can be...

It's the end of another school year. I did it! I mean, my son did it. But it was mostly me. OK, fine. It was all him. We just finished our first year of homeschooling, together, as a team. My...